There is a proverb, ancient in many cultures, which can be stated as:
- “if you don't know where you came from, you cannot know where you are going”.
The process, far from complete, that is the information revolution, has many roots and those of us who have lived through the second half of the twentieth century, have been privileged to witness an amazing transformation.
This is our, very small, tribute to those many thousands of people who contributed to that transformation.
Sticks and Stones
There were computers before there were electronics.
In the 'fifties, the type of computer most familiar to the mathematically inclined was the slide rule, but mechanical aids to computation go back much further than that.
Take the abacus, which in its earliest forms, was nothing more than a line of stones on the ground. The concept dates back to, at least, 3000BC yet it is still a practical tool for basic arithmetical operations today. Indeed, the Soroban continues in use for commercial operations in many Japanese companies.
More complicated mechanical computers, too, have a longer history than one might think. The oldest known mechanical computer is the Antikythera mechanism, named after the Greek island near which it was found. The mechanism dates back to 100BC or earlier, and it was probably not the first of its type.
If you're old enough to remember flared trousers, “the summer of love” and the first mini skirts, you probably came across the last generation of modern mechanical calculators, machines used in many companies and government departments from the Victorian era to the late nineteen seventies, if not later.
Calculators with Batteries
Electronic calculators, which we might define as small, special purpose computers for arithmetic, first came on the market in the nineteen sixties. Within ten years, they were pocket sized. Through the 'seventies, electronic calculators acquired both more functionality and smaller price tags, a process that continues today with the “graphic calculators”, used by many older school children.
- the Vintage Technology site has information on a wide selection of early electronic calculators.
The Mighty Micro
By the mid-nineteen seventies, many electronic engineers were looking at the highly integrated microprocessor and thinking hard about how they could build real computers with them. The microcomputer revolution had arrived.
Recollections
Here are descriptions of some of the machines that we have used in the past…
- 1978 Pertec PCC-2000 Big, noisy descendant of the MITS Altair, itself the machine that, arguably, launched the microcomputer revolution.
- 1979 Acorn System 1 Tiny training micro using the 6502 processor.
- 1979 Sharp MZ-80K Not so inscrutable training micro from Japan.
- 1979 Hewlett-Packard HP-85 Is it a computer? Is it a calculator?
- 1983 Sharp MZ-80B How Japan missed the boat.
- 1984 Apple Macintosh A mighty hammer blow for individualistic computing.
More information
The following websites have a lot more on the early computers…
- old-computers.com The Big Daddy of vintage computer sites.
- Daves Old Computers One man's mission to save the history of microcomputing.
- old-computers.net As well as actual computers, some fascinating old adverts.
- The Low End Mac - everything about early Macintoshes.
